As If We Didn’t Know
Bob Sullivan, MSNBC Technology correspondent, informs us that “water is wet” in his lengthy article, Most Americans are in cell phone jail, describing the practices of cellular companies in the United States.
We are years behind the rest of the world, have lousy connectivity, can’t buy the latest phones, don’t have the features, and pay outrageous prices while receiving crummy customer service.
People wonder why I still have a pre-paid cell phone. For one thing it was cheaper than the cheapest local cellular provider, and has gotten even cheaper while everyone else’s rates have gone up. I only pay for the calls I actually make or receive and there are no hidden charges. It isn’t a camera, a music player, an e-mail terminal – it just a telephone. That’s all I want.
8 comments
This is a horribly sore subject for those of us that have regular contact with our colleagues in Europe who ridicule us for our crappy technology and salve mentality when it comes to things like cell phones. We are so far behind the rest of the world in personal communication and internet access it is actually embarrassing.
In the good old days when we had tourists, they were always complaining about the terrible system we had, and a friend who owns a condo at the beach he rents out is always receiving complaints about how slow the Internet connection is in his condo.
The corporations are doing the same thing they did in manufacturing: milking the current system, blocking innovation, and then dumping everything when it fails. It’s pathetic to think you can get better service from British Telephone than anyone in the US. Most cities in Mexico you can get a T1 for $50/month.
Thing is, British Telecom ain’t doin’ that out of the goodness of their heart. They’re doing it because their government, like, actually regulates them (gasp!!!!). When the Yurpeen telecoms come over here, they act just as evil as the home-grown variant. Take T-Mobile. Please.
As for pre-paid phones, I need something that I can use as a modem for my computer in remote locations where there is no Internet service (but there is cellular service), so get reamed that way. WiMax hopefully will end that. I calculated that with my current usage, I’d spend about $10 a month for phone service if I did pre-paid just for phone service, as vs. at least 3 times that post-paid. It’s the EVDO that’s killin’ me, phone service wise…
You can at least get it. My older brother shows up with his iPhone over Christmas and it does next to nothing. I had to reconfigure my wireless router to get him access to his e-mail. There are any number of services that are advertised that I can’t get in my local area. I’m on DSL as I sit about 75 feet from an underground fiber bundle as big around has my forearm.
You can’t even get call waiting and caller ID in the northern half of the county to my East because they are still using analog switches.
All local service is still copper.
Hey Bryan… You have my phone! LOL
I have an Ericsson A1018s! Ancient! (Well, 7 years old). It’s a comfy size for my big hands, it works in places the new ones don’t (I know for a fact!) and it’s never missed a beat. And it’s pre-paid. I have had 2 Nokia’s. One died in a year (for no reason I could see), and the other was stolen (smaller is NOT always better!) I even have a nice little keyboard for my Ericsson for SMS’s or email. 🙂 It doesn’t have a thousand annoying tunes, it doesn’t do Internet at insane prices, it doesn’t even have stupid games that you can barely see! 🙂 It phones. And does it well!
I take photo’s with my very good Nikon digital camera. 🙂 I’ve never seen a phone camera (no matter how many millions of pixels the CCD has) come close!
Horses for courses… 😉 My phone phones, and my camera takes photo’s, and my MP3 player plays music. Yup.
The current phone manufacturers would have to pay me to have one of their crappy phones! (And I used to be an electronics engineer working on state of the art). LOL
Remember when America used to be the technology leader? Those were the days…
I still have a Nokia, and will probably get another when it dies. I have been looking at the new ones, but I really like the current multiple batteries I have for the Nokia that are easy to swap out, rather than have to plug in the phone at night. A very nice feature in a hurricane area, extra batteries.
Yes, the extending antenna provides a stronger signal in marginal areas than the internal types of the newer phones, and this area is nothing if not marginal.
Having worked in the field I think you would agree that these days newer usually means cheaper, not better and cheaper applies to manufacturing costs, not retail price.
Yes, Michael, I remember when I could say with assurance that the US made the best in every area of manufacture. No matter what it was, if you had the money and wanted the very best and most up-to-date product, it was made in the USA. These days it is difficult to find anything that is still made in the US.
The thing is, I don’t remember ever being asked if I would like to buy cheap crap from China, and was really annoyed when I found out that buying an American “brand” no longer meant I was getting an American product.
The thing is, I don’t remember ever being asked if I would like to buy cheap crap from China, and was really annoyed when I found out that buying an American “brand” no longer meant I was getting an American product.
Ha! 😀 Welcome to OUR World! Imagine our surprise (thanks to the Howard-Bushmoron ‘Free Trade Agreement’) when buying Australian was really buying American, except it wasn’t because it’s all made in China, and if we just bypassed the middleman (USA) we could get the same crap for peanuts! (China likes Australia. We have Uranium. Lots of it! And coal… and oil… and gas… and iron… etc!)
I remember when Australia used to make things. Things the worked. Things that worked for a long time! Thing’s that pissed off the USA and China, who made things that worked… until the warranty expired (if you were lucky). I recently finished working as a Svc Manager for a large Apple Store group. We decided after we had been selling iPod’s for the first year they came out, that we couldn’t afford them! With the crappy margin we had, and the high failure rates and higher customer dissatisfaction… they were killing us! We finally got Apple to deal with the problem directly (but only because we had better lawyers and the ACCC on our side!) I remember when Apple was a company that really gave a damn about their customers. Then Jobs saw the light, and it was solid gold! And he became Bill Gates long lost twin (or clone). I spent more time in two years fighting Apple for parts and service, than I had problems with customers! I had customers feeling sorry for us (and swearing never to buy Apple again. If you are going to be screwed by a company, you may as well save some money!) And don’t mention the iPhone! Sheesh.
/rant